


Helping Hulk—or Hulking Help?

by scifigeek14



Series: Conversations [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), hulk wants to help his friend thor, loki just wants to get out of the conversation, thor is working too hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 02:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14728265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifigeek14/pseuds/scifigeek14
Summary: Loki should have known he wouldn't be able to avoid the Hulk forever, but he probably should have thought twice before eavesdropping on his and Thor's private conversation.





	Helping Hulk—or Hulking Help?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valfromrome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valfromrome/gifts).



> Prompt from Valfromrome who wanted a hulk and loki conversation and also loki listening in on a convo. If you haven't read the previous part in the series, that is the conversation that Loki listens in on.

Loki quickly ducked behind a cooling unit as Thor exited the cafeteria and threw up a hasty shadowy concealment illusion.  It wasn’t that he had anything to ashamed of, after all he hadn’t been _trying_ to listen in on their conversation. He’d just happened to have just come out of the cafeteria himself when he’d seen the Hulk coming down the hallway and had instinctively hidden from the beast’s view. When Thor had shown up, Loki hadn’t planned to eavesdrop, but old habits die hard and it had been easy to slip back out and press his ear to the door. Besides, he’d been curious to know what exactly a conversation between two massive oafs sounded like.  

He’d been disappointed by the outcome. Besides the memorable shout of “I’m not a baby” from the God of Thunder—which Loki would be filing away in his memory for a rainy day—and the Hulk’s insistence that Loki was Thor’s Queen—a topic he hoped to never have brought up again—the conversation had been uninterestingly average. He hadn’t learned anything that he hadn’t already discerned for himself: The Hulk talked like an adult stuck in a two-year-old stuck in a giant monster, Thor needed to train to control his lightning, and that their new king was working himself ragged trying to do everything all at once.

Loki relaxed his posture a bit once he heard Thor’s footstep’s echoing down the hallway and disappearing in the direction of the armory. He glanced towards the door of the eating area for a sign that the Hulk would be exiting imminently and, upon seeing none, he breathed out and brushed himself down, preparing to head back to his room.

“Puny God,” Hulk called from the other room. Loki froze, the words triggering an involuntary pulse of fear deep in his gut. He didn’t speak up in response, hoping that the Hulk had just been musing over his conversation with Thor rather than actually calling out to him.  He tried to pretend he wasn’t there. He even shut his eyes and held his breath, like a child hiding from a scolding. But he had no such luck, as Hulk called out to him again, “Puny God, Hulk know you’re there.”

Loki looked down the hallway with desperation, wondering if maybe he could make a run for it. He knew that he wouldn’t be able avoid Hulk forever though. The ship was only so big, after all. If he ran now it could anger the Hulk, and an angry Hulk would be dangerous for the health of the ship and the health of everyone on it, especially his own. And beyond that, the Hulk had Thor and Valkyrie on his side, which meant that Korg and Heimdall were on his side as well, which meant that Loki would be vastly out-numbered.

“Come talk Hulk NOW!” Hulk roared his command, clearly loosing what little patience he had. Loki wasn’t convinced that the Hulk couldn’t speak in a tone that wasn’t yelling.

“Alright! Fine!” Loki shouted back, caving in and entering the cafeteria with as much poise and dramatic a flair as he could muster. Hulk was sitting with his arms crossed and smug look on his big green face. “You bellowed?”

“Loki spy on Hulk and Thor!” He accused.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last. What’s your point?” Loki leaned against the door frame and mirrored the Hulk’s crossed arms.

“Loki hear.”

“Yes, I heard,” Loki huffed. “That’s sort of the whole point of eavesdropping.”

“Loki hear Thor sad.”

“Thor isn’t sad, at least not any more than would be reasonable considering all he’s lost of late—in fact, I’d say he is in remarkably high spirits. He’s just exhausted. It’s hard enough being a king to your people in peace times let alone in a tumultuous time such as this. And Thor has never learned how to delegate. He does everything himself. Why is he even doing the survey of the armory in the first place? That shouldn’t be the King’s job.”

“Hulk want to fight,” The Hulk complained, pouting like a child. Loki read between the lines. The Hulk was concerned that he shouldn’t have talked Thor into agreeing to a spar if he was so busy and tired. Loki couldn’t believe that he was starting to understand the creature’s thought process.

“I actually think that your spar will do him good,” Loki admitted, assuaging the Hulk’s concerns. “He could do with blowing off a little steam, or in his case a little electricity.”

“Sparkles,” Hulk intoned. “Loki help Thor.”

“I already promised to train him.”

“LOKI HELP THOR!” The Hulk smashed his fist against the wall and the entire room shuddered. Loki shuddered to.

“Alright! I will! I am,” Loki first yelped and then sighed, picking at the edge of a bit of leather detailing on his wrist to avoid looking at Hulk. “I’m trying to.”

His brother wasn’t exactly the easiest person to help. When they were younger Thor had done everything in his power to _avoid_ responsibility. But, it seemed he had finally grown out of that habit. And Loki knew better than most that, once Thor had set himself to something, he was stubborn enough to see it through without accepting help. It was a trait that the two of them shared—no doubt passed on to them from Odin.

Thor was taking on all the burdens of his people, and Loki doubted that he’d be able to talk him into putting some down. He knew what Thor’s response would be: a shot at how lax and useless he’d been during his time on the throne as Odin. He could, perhaps, instead convince him to shift _some_ of the burden, to share some with those willing to help like Korg, Heimdall, Valkyrie, or even himself.

“I’ll talk to Thor,” Loki promised, but was secretly hatching a plan. A better idea would be to try to pick up the slack without Thor noticing. He would talk to Thor, but he’d also talk to the others. If anyone could organize some of the freeloaders on board into a workforce for good it was Korg.

“Promise?” Hulk asked, clear mistrust in his tone.

“You have my word, alright?” Loki promised, trying to end the conversation. He hedged backwards towards the door casually.

“Hulk smash you,” Hulk warned him, pointing a stubby finger at him.

“I said I would, so I will!” Loki snapped.

The Hulk growled and lunged towards him. Loki’s eyes flew wide and he darted away. He was out the door and retreating down the hallway in a blink of an eye. It wasn’t until he was turning the corner at the far end of the hall that he realized that he could hear the Hulk laughing at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Up next is back to basics with some good ol' Thor and Loki feeling chats. Foundlingmother requested Thor confronting Loki about faking his death. I'm half way through it so look out for it soon.
> 
> Also, big shout out to Valfromrome for agreeing to beta read for my big long chapter fic, but I'm still looking for one or two more people who are willing to beta for it. Let me know if that is something you'd be into.


End file.
